We speak to Zachary Levi aka Flynn Rider from Tangled!

This Sunday at 5pm you can see the premiere of Tangled on Disney Cinemagic.

This is the 50th ever animated Disney film and follows the classic tale or Rapunzel, although with a great modern twist!

Rather than being the typical gentle-mannered damsel waiting for her prince to save her, in this film Rapunzel is a feisty teen who uses her 70 feet of magical, golden hair to capture the kingdom’s most wanted bandit Flynn Rider when he hides out in her tower!

Tangled is also now out on DVD, so we thought we’d catch up with Zachary Levi, who is the voice of Flynn Rider.

I voice a character called Flynn Rider in the animation. Flynn is the male lead of the film and he’s the archetypal prince character, but he’s not a prince. Instead, he is a charming and an arrogant bandit. Deep down, Flynn has a good core. However, you don’t see that at the beginning of the movie. You discover this about Flynn as the story unfolds because this characteristic is brought out of him through the purity, love and naiveté of Rapunzel.

How did you get involved with the movie?

I got a call inviting me to audition for Disney’s new animated musical – and I was immediately sold. I am a huge fan of Disney. I have been a fan ever since I was a little kid. In fact, I’ve always dreamed of being a voice in a Disney animation and I’ve always wanted to sing for Disney, so this opportunity was a dream come true.

How worried were you about the singing aspect of the role?

I’ve sung my whole life, so I wasn’t too worried. My singing has mostly been for fun but I’ve also done a lot of musical theater, so I have booked jobs based on my voice before. It wasn’t like I was walking into the room and talking to Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson about a potential musical career.

If you enjoy singing, does this mean you enjoy karaoke, too?

Karaoke is interesting because I think there is a method to the madness. I believe in choosing songs that have audience participation where everyone claps or sings along with the chorus. You’ve got to get everybody on your side and it’s easy to do that if you choose something with a great deal of audience participation.

Can you give us some examples?

Songs like Sweet Caroline feature a good amount of audience participation. It’s cheesy, but if it hasn’t been done all night, somebody has got to do it. I also love singing Journey, but it’s out of my key. Unless they have some kind of a key changer, I can’t really do it.

Flynn Ryder is a bandit in the movie. What is your most roguish quality?

Wow, that’s a tough question to answer. Well, I guess I’m a wicked video game player. When it comes to video games, I show no mercy! I can also wear the same clothes for a week straight. That’s probably the most offensive thing that I do.

How did you come up with the voice of Flynn?

I wanted Flynn to be different to my normal voice. I think that was appropriate given that it’s a fantasy world set in a medieval, renaissance-style era. If the movie was set in modern times, I’d use my regular voice – but I wanted him to sound different to my regular cadence.

Were you excited to discover that your character in Tangled provides much of the comedy of the movie?

I was incredibly happy, but I have to admit that the animals steal the show. When it comes to the comedy of Tangled, the gecko and the horse are outstanding. W.C. Fields said never work with kids or animals, but the gecko and the horse end up stealing my thunder.

What makes you laugh?

Every Pixar movie makes me laugh uncontrollably. My friends are all starting to have little kids, so we all end up watching Pixar movies a lot. I can sit and watch Pixar movies over and over again. They never get boring.

What’s your favorite Pixar movie?

I’ve seen all of the Pixar movies – Cars, Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Toy Story – and they all make me laugh, but Nemo is definitely the best in my book. Ellen DeGeneres is hysterical as Dory, although I think Tangled is certainly up there with the comedy, too. It certainly made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions!

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